Monocle on Design
Your essential guide to design, covering furniture, craft, and architecture. Discover fresh stories, rising talents, and the latest from top studios.
Latest Episodes
Drawing inspiration
We speak to Foster + Partners’ art director Narinder Sagoo about the process of sketching new buildings. Plus: we visit the Danish Architecture Centre, and meet two friends channelling nostalgia into the design of Brooklyn’s Turk’s Inn restaurant.
Extra: Rules and risk
Marjorie Allen was a postwar pioneer of the Adventure Playground movement in the UK. Her story features in “Play Well”, an exhibition at London’s Wellcome Collection. We meet the exhibition’s curator, Shamita Sharmacharja, to learn more.
Meeting Francis Kéré
An in-depth discussion with Berlin-based, Burkina Faso-born architect Diébédo Francis Kéré, reflecting on how his practise Kéré Architecture creates buildings with both a sense of place and purpose. Plus, we meet design fair Maison et Objet’s designer of the year – lighting and interiors specialist Michael Anastassiades.
Extra: Bright ideas
Designer Barbara Palatin Doyle shares her inspiration behind her lamp Charta Alba, and shines a light on a new collection of table lamps from Studio Palatin.
Class acts
We meet the minds behind two new spaces designed to inspire creativity. Dutch architect Ellen van Loon discusses her design made with architectural firm Oma for Brighton College in the UK. And we also talk music-studio design with musician and producer Dave Okumu and architect Julius Taminiau.
Extra: Cuba’s golden age of graphic design
Posters have always sought to persuade and this week we review the work of the Organisation of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America which is the subject of a bold exhibition at London’s House of Illustration.
Cover stars
Monocle’s creative director Richard Spencer-Powell and culture editor Chiara Rimella join Josh Fehnert for a review of the best-designed magazines on the newsstand. Plus: Raffaello Napoleone, CEO of Pitti Immagine, on the Florentine trade show’s place on the global fashion calendar.
Extra: Divine architecture: Our Lady of the Cadore
Amid the natural beauty of the Dolomites sits a remarkable work of human endeavour: the Church of Our Lady of the Cadore. Ivan Carvalho pays tribute and asks an architectural historian about this amazing structure.
2020 vision
We look ahead to the standout design trends for the year ahead with architect Sir Peter Cook and design and craft writer Katie Treggiden.
The best of 2019
A look back at the year in design, including discussions with architect Elizabeth Diller, the books of Irma Boom and how design can help tackle homelessness.
